EC+AM=4ever Chapter 3

"So his mom was warning him to stay away from someone?" Kristy asked. "And you think that someone is you?"

"Well, not to be conceited, but I think he really likes me. Who else could it be?" I replied.

"I don't know. But why would his mom want him to stay away from you?"

"I have no idea. I think it's something about the reason they moved here."

"Why did they move here?"

"I don't know." I admitted.

"Ok... This is definitely weird." she said. She took a bite of pizza and polished it off with a swig of Diet Coke.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm going to find out why they moved here. And I'm going to find out why his mom forbid him to hang out with me." I declared.

"Aw, it's like forbidden love! How sweet!" she oozed.

"It is not! We don't love each other! We're just friends." I said.

"Yeah, 'friends'," She put air-quotes around "friends".

"Oh, shut up. We met just yesterday, how would we be in love already?"

"Maybe it was like love at first sight. Like in the movies where a hot guy walks into the room and everything's in slow motion and there's like, glowing lights around him."

"Well it's nothing like that,"

"Oh, you totally love him! Why else would you get all shy around him? You have a crush on him for sure!"

"Maybe I do, but that doesn't mean I'm in love with him." I told her.

"Not yet,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"It means that you're so going to fall in love with him!"

"Ugh, must you be so persistent?"

"I'm only persistent because you're my friend." she said in a sincere tone.

"Well thank you, but I'm not going to fall in love with him. However, I am going to find out what the deal is with him. Why he moved here, what's up with his mom. I feel like it might have something to do with why his dad doesn't live with them."

"Ok, you can go ahead and pretend like you're on C.S.I., but I'm not going to. I prefer not to pry into other people's lives."

I stuck out my lower lip, giving her the puppy-dog face. "Please," I begged.

She rolled her eyes, "You know that puppy-dog face doesn't work with me."

"But I thought you were my bestest friend in the whole wide world."

"I am, but I think you should just mind your own business." she replied.

"Fine, don't help me. I can do this by myself anyways. I just hope it's not something bad, like that Ash and his family are drug-dealers hiding from the cops or something like that." I said.

"Speaking of Ash, when do I get to meet him?" she asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you come over tomorrow and I can introduce you?" I suggested.

"Ok, I'll be there around eleven."

"Sounds good to me,"

After we finished eating our pizza, we said goodbye and went our seperate ways. When I pulled into my driveway, I saw Ash standing outside on his front porch. He was leaning on the railing, looking furious.

I parked my car and got out. "Hey," I said to him.

He looked over at me and muttered a quick "Hey,"

"What's up with you?" I asked, stepping across my front lawn towards him.

"Nothing, I'm just really sick of my mom. She can be so up-tight sometimes."

"Yeah, I can't argue with that. My mom's the same way." I was standing across from him, looking into those beautiful blue eyes of his.

And then as if on cue, Ash's mom stepped onto the porch. She saw me and her eyes widened in what looked like shocked anger.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized, sounding exactly how I felt, baffled and nervous.

Then without any further notice, she walked inside the house and slammed the door behind her.

"What was that all about?" I asked Ash.

"Like I said, she's up-tight. Well I'd better get going now, before she gets even angrier. I don't want her to lock me in my room for an entire week like she did the last time I got her angry."

I laughed at that, figuring he was being sarcastic.

Then his eyes went cold, "That wasn't a joke."

I stopped laughing immediately, feeling even more foolish than yesterday. "But what about food and going to the bathroom?" I asked.

"She let my go to the bathroom and brough all of my food up to my room." he said.

"Oh, wow," I felt like such an idiot.

"Yeah, well I'll see you later." Then he walked inside and I walked back over to my own house.

I just couldn't believe that his own mother would actually do such a thing. That was absolutey ridiculous! It was sadistic! It was just plain cruel! I know that my mom would never, ever do anything like that to me.

"Hi honey, how was your dinner at Sadie's?" Mom asked me when I stepped inside.

"It was good," I replied.

"And how was your conversation with Ash?" She wriggled her eyebrows and grinned.

"Well I met his mom, although I kind of wish I hadn't." I replied.

"What do you mean?"

"The woman's an up-tight, rude, unpolite freak."

"Evalynne, that was uncalled for. You don't have to be so judgemental," Mom scolded me.

"She locked Ash in his room for an entire week once just because he got her a little angry. She only let him out to go to the bathroom. She even delivered his food up to him so that he couldn't come down for dinner!" I cried.

Mom's eyes went wide with astonishment. "Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yeah, and earlier today I heard her yelling at Ash, warning him to stay away from someone. And I have a funny feeling that someone is me. You should have seen how rude she was when she met me. It was awful!"

"Well what did she say?"

"Well Ash had to tell her to introduce herself, since she completely ignored me at firsst. And when I accidently called her Mrs. Mongolia she got furious! She was like, 'Actually it's Ms. Mongolia. I'm divorced.' "

"Well that does seem pretty disrespectful. Maybe I should go over there and introduce myself tomorrow night, invite them over for dinner, be a good neighbor."

I raised my eyebrows, "Fine, but believe me, once you invite her over, you'll wish you hadn't." I said. "By the way, where's Dad?"

"He went out to dinner with a couple of his co-workers. He should be back any time now."

"Oh, ok," I walked up to my room and plopped down on my bed. I made a silent vow that I would read one full chapter of Twilight before going to sleep.

So I grabbed the book, propped my head up on my pillow, and began reading. I got through an entire chapter without any distractions from Ash's house. No shirtless Ash, no loud crash, no yelling. Just peace and quiet.

But as I lay my head down to go to sleep, I heard a door slam shut and an angry Ash yelling out, "Shut up, Mom! I wish you were dead! I bet if you were still with Dad, you would be!"

I heard his window slam shut and sat upright in my bed. What was that all about? I bet if you were still with Dad, you would be! I played those words over and over again in my mind. Was Ash's dad some kind of killer?

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